F2.SeanGP.com – Campos Vexatec Racing’s Luca Ghiotto was quickest on the opening morning session in the second FIA Formula 2 Championship pre-season test at Sakhir, Bahrain, setting a 1:44.042 lap to beat the Charouz Racing System duo of Louis Delétraz and Antonio Fuoco to the top of the timesheets in a quiet start to the day.

In warm conditions – rising as high as 27 degrees Celsius – the field was led onto the circuit by MP Motorsport’s Roberto Merhi, with Jack Aitken (ART Grand Prix) and Santino Ferrucci (Trident) just behind as the circuit went live. The teams spent the first hour logging installation laps, until Ghiotto set the first flying run in the 1m44s boundary.

Ghiotto then bested his time by 0.7 seconds after the halfway point of the session, putting him out of reach from countryman Fuoco, which remained the benchmark throughout the remainder of the morning having been set on medium compound tyres.

The second half of the session was considerably more stop-start than the first, a red flag for Alexander Albon’s stranded DAMS at turn 13 preceded another stoppage for Arjun Maini, who came to a halt on the start/finish straight with half an hour remaining on the clock.

Nicholas Latifi (DAMS) brought a final stoppage ten minutes before the end, leaving Ghiotto’s time unchallenged at the close of the session. Fuoco beat teammate Delétraz to second, as Maximilian Günther (BWT Arden) grabbed fourth ahead of RUSSIAN TIME’s Artem Markelov. Arden’s Nirei Fukuzumi was sixth, as Albon and Maini were seventh and eighth respectively. Nyck De Vries (PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing) and Roy Nissany (Campos) completed the top ten.

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